The Canadian Northern Railway, in 1914, started bringing passengers from Winnipeg to East Selkirk. From there, those who were enroute to Victoria Beach or Grand Beach, transferred to a boat to get there. As more and more people started going to the beaches, the Canadian Northern Railway built tracks northward to the beaches.

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It took the labours of many men to build the rail line. First, they had to survey the best possible route to the beaches. Then, they had to clear trees and brush from the ground to make way for the tracks. Next, came the task of levelling the ground - using horse-drawn graters and scrapers; and then hauling gravel to the site and spreading it evenly along the pathway. Other workers hauled the steel tracks to the site, laid them down manually, and held them together with iron spikes.

The first passenger train arrived in Victoria Beach and Grand Beach in the summer of 1916. The company built a train station in both places.

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Two years earlier, in 1914, the railway company purchased a 150-acre homestead at Grand Beach to develop a resort. Construction on a massive dance hall pavilion began soon after - and was completed in 1915.

It became the major source of entertainment and the central meeting place of the resort community. The railway hired different bands to entertain. Admission to the dance hall was free until the early 1920s when they started to charge a nickel. There was dancing every night of the week. The famous “Moonlight Special” train ride began. Charging 50 cents round trip, the train would leave Winnipeg every night after supper, transport people to Grand Beach for a few dances and a walk around the boardwalk and return to the city at midnight. The dancehall was a famous entertainment spot for 35 years, ie. until it burned down on Labour Day in 1950.

The railway also built bathhouses along the beach where they rented bathing suits to beach visitors, as well as food concessions and a long wooden boardwalk along the beach to the north lagoon.

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In 1916, the railway company offered passengers weekend specials to travel to Victoria Beach. The train left Winnipeg on Saturday at noon and returned the following Monday. Weekend accommodations and fare cost $1.75. Anyone wanting to stay at Grand Beach had to tent until 1920 when the railway built the Grand Beach Hotel.The Grand Beach Hotel was built along the beach and offered feather beds, log furniture, running water and a huge fireplace and a visitor lounge. The grounds had flower gardens, white rocks bordering the pathway - and a huge swing in the shape of a boat that carried passengers to imaginary places.

During World War I (1914-1918), money was tight and train travel declined. The owners of the Canadian Northern Railway were heavily in debt. They were unable to continue providing rail service. They requested financial aid from the Canadian government - and received it. In exchange, the government gained the majority of control of the company shares. The company was nationalized on September 6, 1918 - and in 1923, became Canadian National Railway.

Rail transportation was popular for many years, but as more people began building cottages and homes in the region, they wanted better access to them. The government built a highway to Grand Beach. Train activity lessened with fewer and fewer passengers. Passenger train service ended in 1961 and two years later, the railway tore up the rails.

With the end of the railway came the end of a wonderful era.

Note: This is an extract from Red River North Heritage. Link: The National Railways A Story For Kids

Last Word

When I moved to Winnipeg in 1977 to go to the University of Manitoba, I had no idea that there were white sand beaches less than an hour away. When I first visited Grand Beach I was gobsmacked, as it looked like a postcard photo from California or Spring Break in Florida.

Who knew the Great White North had great beaches? It is a reminder of how little most Canadians know about our country, outside of where they live.